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Myocardial External Efficiency

Simple, automated and reproducible estimation of Myocardial External Efficiency (MEE), the ratio of energy consumed by the heart and the mechanical work performed by the heart, is a valuable tool for characterizing cardiomyopathies and for evaluating treatment response.

11C-acetate has been used for decades to estimate myocardial energy consumption and, in combination with mass and work measurements from MRI or ECHO, the MEE. This multi-scan approach is, however, cumbersome and costly and can introduce errors as hemodynamic conditions may change between sessions.

Automatic Calculation of MEE from a single 11C-acetate PET-scan

Recent work by the aQuant Team has shown that both myocardial mass and external work can be measured directly from the same 11C-acetate scan used for measuring the energy consumption. This allows for measurement of MEE from a single 11C-acetate PET-scan. Furthermore, this can be done in an automated and highly reproducible fashion.

Using this approach protocol duration and cost as well as patient burden are greatly reduced.

The method is implemented in the aQuant Research package.

aQuant Research package

The aQuant Research package is a tool for non-15O-water cardiac applications and is not part of the commercial aQuant application. It is available for non-commercial partners collaborating with the aQuant Team. Please, email research(at)aquantsoft.com to reach out to the team.